Portuguese 10-year bond yields rose more than a percentage point to 7.88% amid fears Mr. Portas’s Democratic and Social Center Party will withdraw its support for the government. Portugal's benchmark equity index, the PSI at the open -20, fell by more than 6%, Spanish IBEX slid by 3%. Germany’s DAX index went down by 1.8%.

Political problems increase the uncertainty surrounding Portugal's bailout commitments and the risk of spillover effects into Spanish bonds and Italian bonds hampering the recent recovery.